Artists are associated with a profile level. During their career, an artist may remain on one level or bounce back and forth between two. Many factors may determine the level of an artist, such as their design, their personal story, or how extensively they have been exhibited.

Artists are associated with a profile level. During their career, an artist may remain on one level or bounce back and forth between two. Many factors may determine the level of an artist, such as their design, their personal story, or how extensively they have been exhibited.

“The Dreamtime is the mythological representation of what Aboriginal people carry in their minds. The source of life! This knowledge has not just been planted in their minds, it is taught and structured through initiation and ceremony.”- Professor A.P. Elkin, Professor of Anthology, 1920’s-1930’s.

“The Dreamtime is the mythological representation of what Aboriginal people carry in their minds. The source of life! This knowledge has not just been planted in their minds, it is taught and structured through initiation and ceremony.”- Professor A.P. Elkin, Professor of Anthology, 1920’s-1930’s.

Awelye for Arnkerrthe by Myrtle Petyarre

For the people of Atnangkere, the Dreamtime tells the story of a small little lizard called Arnkerrthe that carries the sacred white, yellow and red ochres of their country in a small sack on the back of his neck.

This lizard danced the story in Atnangkere country, where the dancing tracks can still be seen today embedded in the rocks. He then carried the ochre powder north, making travelling paths as he went slowly along.

The linear pattern in this painting represents women’s ceremony and body paint designs called Awelye. Like in this painting, Myrtle and the women of Atnangkere country use yellow ochre, red ochre and white in their body painting.

The women will smear their bodies with animal fat or vegetable oil then trace these patterns onto their breasts, arms and thighs. Powders ground from red and yellow ochre (clays), charcoal and ash are used as body paint. The women sing as each woman takes her turn to be ‘painted-up’. Their songs relate to the ancestral travels of the Mountain Devil Lizard as it makes the long journey north to Waramungu country.